Thoughts & Lessons from X-COM: Enemy Unknown (by Firaxis)

[chacineiro]

Very nice review Chris - it sums up not only what I've been thinking, but what a lot of other people have found about the game.

I totally agree about the DLC they've announced. My heart sank when I read about it as what the game needs is expanding the existing stuff - more and bigger maps, more localisation of the troops and their voices, different mission types rather than some three mission mini-campaign which would fit more into a Call of Duty or Gears of War type title than a turn-based strategy game like XCOM.

I'm liking it at the moment, but if they don't provide decent support to sort out the bugs and obvious game play deficiencies and open up mod support, then my likelihood of buying another Firaxis title will plummet.

I finished the game on Classic and on Ironman Classic and feel like theres nothing else to do, the story and tech tree is so linear and boring, theres 0 replayability value. This DLC is pathetic, it will add basically nothing new to the game.

[Skvid]

The base UI in that game was awful, to customise your squad you had to go through so many clicks that it wasnt even funny.

Edited October 26, 2012 by Skvid

[Xenophob]

I liked the idea of climbing up the structures. If there is only one class of soldier can do that in X2012 (I'm not sure), then I think that all of them should be able to do that.

Good that there are multiple bodys are needed for research. I think it is good if in Xenonauts even interrogating live aliens will give no resut sometime. Which mean that alien was strong enough or didn't new any new information.

[Donkeyfumbler]

The base UI in that game was awful, to customise your squad you had to go through so many clicks that it wasnt even funny.

True - if you were rotating your squad members it was a real pain in the bum.

[alienfood]

Thanks for the review, from an unimpeachable X-COM veteran. I bought the game but did not get beyond the Steam install and got my money refunded. Although I didn't get to play the game, the "dumbing down" of the strategy layer, single base, small squad size, and static maps, resonate with me because they are all important differences from the original. Add to this the heavily cover-based tactics, and the MMO-like pulling groups of mobs, and I feel that the game is not what I was looking for.

You are correct that the legion of hard-core X-COM fans are not impressed with a game you can play with your thumbs. We are asking for surprisingly little. We have jumped through hoops to replay our 20 year old game, with stupefyingly ancient graphics, because actual game-play has never been surpassed. Firaxis could have taken the existing source and/or data files, ported to win32, added very little content, done some graphics rescaling to support a larger viewport, and included the game as a free extra with their new EU. That would have captured all those legions of fans, including me, and put you out of business.

But Firaxis has moved on and created a new game with, it is said, wider appeal. It does not appear to me that folks will be playing the new game 20 years from now, but they may still be playing the old game, 40 years old by then. So there is plenty of room, even among people who are enjoying EU, for a true remake of the consensus best-game-of-all-time. So Xenonauts is actually in a good place, which convinced me to spring for the pre-order. Thanks for your hard work, and may many, many people reward you with a measly $20.

[Snozy]

Thanks for the review, from an unimpeachable X-COM veteran. I bought the game but did not get beyond the Steam install and got my money refunded. Although I didn't get to play the game, the "dumbing down" of the strategy layer, single base, small squad size, and static maps, resonate with me because they are all important differences from the original. Add to this the heavily cover-based tactics, and the MMO-like pulling groups of mobs, and I feel that the game is not what I was looking for.

You are correct that the legion of hard-core X-COM fans are not impressed with a game you can play with your thumbs. We are asking for surprisingly little. We have jumped through hoops to replay our 20 year old game, with stupefyingly ancient graphics, because actual game-play has never been surpassed. Firaxis could have taken the existing source and/or data files, ported to win32, added very little content, done some graphics rescaling to support a larger viewport, and included the game as a free extra with their new EU. That would have captured all those legions of fans, including me, and put you out of business.

But Firaxis has moved on and created a new game with, it is said, wider appeal. It does not appear to me that folks will be playing the new game 20 years from now, but they may still be playing the old game, 40 years old by then. So there is plenty of room, even among people who are enjoying EU, for a true remake of the consensus best-game-of-all-time. So Xenonauts is actually in a good place, which convinced me to spring for the pre-order. Thanks for your hard work, and may many, many people reward you with a measly $20.

Well said friend. i want to pre-order with your nice words and with chriss well done review. you both take the words out of me hahaha. what i like to wait for before i buy a game in modern days is for the demo. its not the 1990s anymore. so i will show my friend why he need to preorder Xenonauts and ill wait to play with him before i buy into Xenonauts hehehehe! better to wait and be patient.

[Sirinan]

But Firaxis has moved on and created a new game with, it is said, wider appeal. It does not appear to me that folks will be playing the new game 20 years from now, but they may still be playing the old game, 40 years old by then. So there is plenty of room, even among people who are enjoying EU, for a true remake of the consensus best-game-of-all-time. So Xenonauts is actually in a good place, which convinced me to spring for the pre-order. Thanks for your hard work, and may many, many people reward you with a measly $20.

Exactly my thoughts. I expect EU to be quickly forgotten, whereas I still enjoy firing up the oldies on Dosbox. It's almost always the same with current vs older games - they are concentrating far too much on the bling, and forgetting about the gameplay. Bugger the nice graphics, give me the gameplay anyday.

[Echelon117]

I think I'm one of very few original xcom fans who straight up didn't like the new xcom enemy unknown by firaxis.

Ill play it for half an hour and all it does is make me quit the game and load up the original! You know that feeling when you watch a good movie with the same theme as a ge your currently playing and it makes you want to play that game?

That's all the new xcom does for me! Can't wait for Xenonauts

[Okim]

I personally loved the XCOM:EU. Indeed interceptions could be much better and the whole abduction thing is a bit weird, but it clearly implants a simple though into player`s mind - you can`t save all. And that`s great (however on the following playthroughs it is much more easier to loose just a few countries by setting up sat coverage pretty fast).

I liked escort missions. What i didn`t like in them - the need to eliminate all the aliens after you get your VIP to safety. Bombing missions are much fun. They force you to take risks. Not loving 'safe the vip' missions as i find it stupid that bodyguards gave up fighting and aliens just ignore the vip all the time. And... 'i`m by the delivery van' is just plain annoying.

Liked how you get random requests from the countries. I feel that this was actually taken from here At least i do remember the discussion on Xenonauts about countries asking for a few laser rifles and such.

Really liked how autopsies and interrogations unlocked various things like boosting research in certain areas or giving a nice upgrade to weapons. For the first time in the XCOM-fan live i actually hunted for aliens. I recall being so damn happy when i got two whole groups of sectoids in the very late game! They really helped me later to shot down the battleship.

The whole foundry thing is a nice idea as well as officer training options. Upgradable weapons and stuff is always good. Though they could have made it a bit wider. For example - give a second life to conventional weapons and lasers by adding some upgrades to accuracy, damage, criticals etc.

Didn`t like the whole '1 damage type' system of the game. In original there were AP, laser, plasma, stun, incendiary and HE damage types. Some aliens were highly resistant to AP and plasma (Snakemen, Sectopod), but vulnerable to laser. Some were really afraid of explosives (Cyberdisks hated missiles), some endured everything, but were quite easy to stun (Mutons, but not with stun rods ). Reapers enjoyed being fried etc. In XCOM:EU the greater that damage your gun has - the better it is. Its bad as it limits your equipment choice.

What i really enjoyed - is full soldier customisation options. It doesn`t have any impact on a gameplay, but allows you to get even closer to your squad. A nice feature aimed at those of us who love customising things all over the place.

Edited October 30, 2012 by Okim

[Infinitum]

To be fair though, the nuances of the XCOM:EU system was lost once you looted yourself some heavy plasma guns (after decking most everyone with Lasrifles prior to that). I'm not as bothered with streamlining the interphase and some of the more superflous choices which XCOM was ripe with as some people here seems to be. I sure having to order ordinary ammunition, cattle prods and selling off the useless base weapons is part of the appeal to some people, me I just find it tedious. Design flaws in otherwise excellent games are not features, just as a game being "difficult", "Old School" or "Hardcore" is not a function of how obtuse its game mechanics are.

That said, I've checked out some videos of this and can't say I'm eager to buy this either. Pulling and swarming mobs ftw. Gung ho supersoldiers crouching behind chest high walls. Spamming psi storm on enemies out of sight. Yay.

Edited October 31, 2012 by Infinitum

[amerelium]

A very short review of XCOM:

Half-assed.

Looking forward to Xenonauts

[TornadoADV]

A very short review of XCOM:

Half-assed.

Looking forward to Xenonauts

Will still make more money then you will in your entire life. Remember that.

[erutan]

I came to accept and enjoy the tactical layer for what it was - I played through classic (savey mode) my first time and didn't abuse the system, but it definitely made a difference. Lost an Ironman game when I started hitting normal plasma weapons and higher health/damage enemies... the +30% crit chance is brutal when you bring in Cyberdiscs etc. The cover system makes sense and felt pretty natural, as did the move/action interface. I missed free aim, but can understand it in this system, and it makes the limited explosives more powerful/useful. Then again I enjoy some of the console SRPG games like Ogre Tactics, Final Fantasy Tactics, so having a smaller squad wasn't the end of the world. Agree that it + alien activation really hurts flanking though, which seems like a huge oversight. That said I never pulled with a scout into overwatch people unless I really had to do a running defense, which is probably why I didn't make it past Ironman. ^^

For me the gutting of the strategic layer really cramps my desire to play through it multiple times... while they did a good job keeping the "feel" of it - money is scarce, alloys can really hold you back (I remember being in Carapace armor and beginning weapons and finally having a UFO land but having to retreat from the battle because my a-squad were in the hospital and I lost 2/3 of my B), there just isn't a real sense of an invasion. No scouting for bases, protecting your own, feeling that give and take of a "front" in the war. Interception is a joke, I never felt bothered to research/purchase any air upgrades until the end of the game, and while having little popups of missions to take was clever (balance panic levels with rewards with difficulty) it doesn't really give that sense that you are managing a defense, just reacting to relatively scarce events that happen every once in a while.

Edited October 31, 2012 by erutan

[GoodGuyEddy]

Will still make more money then you will in your entire life.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnndddddddddddddddddddd?

[dreamer81]

all of the above plus the research tree in X-COM:EU is very awful, only one type of advanced interceptor, no skyranger upgrades...is not like you're pumped to research something, is very linear and short..maybe shorter than the original

[GoodGuyEddy]

maybe shorter than the original

Nope, it's about the same. But then again the original was an unfinished game that was pushed out due to funds. This one wasn't. Take that as you please.

[TornadoADV]

Nope, it's about the same. But then again the original was an unfinished game that was pushed out due to funds. This one wasn't. Take that as you please.

It is pretty amazing that UD saw the light of day at all, considering the utter incompetence it was handled with. But XCOM as a property has always been mistreated and under-valued.

[Gazz]

the strategy layer is a shadow of its former self. It has some elements present and correct, but plenty of things that make perfect sense within the context of the new game but seem arbitrarily restrictive compared to the previous games. Why can't I just hire scientists or engineers?

You can.

5 of them come with every built lab or workshop.

The pointless and annoying bit is that you have to acquire 1+ scientist or engineer to unlock labs/workshops.

That's a bit I don't get.

Why does ignoring an abduction site in a country raise panic in the entire continent, but completing one only reduces panic in that particular country? Why can't I sell manufactured goods at all (or captured plasma weapons)?

Because they need the panic.

There are events like terror or council missions that reduce panic continent-wide or world-wide.

The early part of the game where you're trying to prevent world-wide disaster is the one I enjoy most.

Once you have full satellite coverage and panic is a distant memory, the game turns into a mop-up operation.

Well, especially if you intentionally left selected countries uncovered to farm some easy abduction missions on the side. =)

I also like the council missions. Escort, bomb disposal... they really break the routine of kill-all-aliens.

Well, except for the one where the objective is to kill all aliens. That's not so much of a break.

As for the DLC... I haven't seen a price quote anywhere so I can only marvel at all the discussions on "worth it or not". =)

Steam claims that I have played XCOM for 150+ hours now. Personally, I think that's a lie.

Whatever. A small scout has landed in India. gotta go.

[chacineiro]

You can.

5 of them come with every built lab or workshop.

The pointless and annoying bit is that you have to acquire 1+ scientist or engineer to unlock labs/workshops.

That's a bit I don't get.

The whole concept is flawed, you can build aditional workshops so you can house 5 more engineers, but at the same time, you can also never build a single workshop and have 100 engineers just from mission rewards. Its an extremely dumbed down and illogical system.

Because they need the panic.

There are events like terror or council missions that reduce panic continent-wide or world-wide.

The early part of the game where you're trying to prevent world-wide disaster is the one I enjoy most.

Once you have full satellite coverage and panic is a distant memory, the game turns into a mop-up operation.

Well, especially if you intentionally left selected countries uncovered to farm some easy abduction missions on the side. =)

I also like the council missions. Escort, bomb disposal... they really break the routine of kill-all-aliens.

Well, except for the one where the objective is to kill all aliens. That's not so much of a break.

As for the DLC... I haven't seen a price quote anywhere so I can only marvel at all the discussions on "worth it or not". =)

Steam claims that I have played XCOM for 150+ hours now. Personally, I think that's a lie.

Whatever. A small scout has landed in India. gotta go.

Panic is an interesting concept, but the fact that you cant intercept UFOs before they start abductions or terror sites is just another lame dumbed down mechanic. Different types of missions were a nice adition tough.

The problem with EU is that I dont feel in a "live world" were the aliens are trying to compete for world domination, building bases and flying ships everywhere to cause terror, the entire game feels like a pre-set story line with some ocassional twists. Personally, I dont feel like its worth more than 2 or 3 playtroughs, because theres little variation.

Edited October 31, 2012 by chacineiro

[jamoecw]

well overall i'd say the thing that sets xcom:eu apart from other turn based games are the in game scenematics. most elements that are done right are taken from other games, either fantasy turnbased games, tabletop rpgs, or xcomish games. most elements that are done wrong could have been done right if taken from those same sources. i doubt it will do well due to the fact that they are reinventing the wheel, instead of learning from what others have done.

some examples of easily fixed flaws:

movement - basically taken from tabletop rpgs, being able to move a little bit then move again in order to pick a path, until you are done is something that pretty much is always allowed, for obvious reasons made crystal clear when games decide for you.

luckless shots - in tabletop rpgs having an interchangeable order for shooting and movement allows for deciding whether to increase odds of a successful shot in exchange for greater sacrifice for a failed roll, such as choosing to move forward to get a better shot then shooting, if it misses then the guy is going to suffer retaliation (how it is in eu), or one can chose to take the shot from where they are, resulting in the ability to move to a safer area should it miss. in jagged alliance 2 (not sure about the first game) the shots tended to follow more of a bell curve, with each shot calculated in a realistic way so that rapid fire wasn't just 3-4 shots at the same accuracy (which would just compound accuracy of a single shot, making balance tough). fallout 1 had the range determine the scale, while cover and such modifies the chance on the scale, which means that if you have a high chance of crit based on range you would have at least that amount of chance to hit, making close accurate shots less risky, while making far off shots more so (which gives benefit towards actually getting close, instead of just flanking or blowing them up).

enemy activation - in tabletop rpgs when encountering an enemy suddenly, there is a surprise round, which is a half round, allowing the surpriser (and only the surpriser) to do something before others can react, sort of like as if before the enemy activated it would allow for either a move or shoot from one of your soldiers (providing he has the tick for it) before they run for cover. also in tabletop rpgs if someone does something on an opponent's turn, they end up using their own turn's action to do so (so no getting a double move). fallout had plenty of people walking around and being kept track of in realtime, in fact more so than there are aliens on a map, so the delay of simply having them move from point a to point b shouldn't be too much for the alien's turn, unless they decide to have random maps at some point (the trick is to not have the aliens calculate anything combat related until they are in fact 'activated,' which wouldn't result in insta move since they would already be in position, or properly ambushed).

all in all i'd say it is a good first step for a modern AAA turn based game, the second game will probably fix all of the easy to fix stuff, and possibly make some innovations else where, though fraxis isn't known for making sequels to it's own games (unless it is civilization).

[forever rookie]

Don't agree much with the "successful" part:

the simplification takes away depth and a ton of player involvement, and the level design is excessively contrived as it needs to be littered with covers to support the "binary" way the movement and positioning work. I don't find the interface that good, and the destruction is done way better in other games (Apocalypse, Silent Storm).

[Whizard72]

I bought XCOM: UD the day it came out in 1993, I was hooked to say the least. =)

Today, I fully support both titles and they both fill a need nicely. I XCOM: EU is a very well done game that reboots the franchise in a big way. It has sold very well and will likely spawn DLC and sequels. It has enough tactical depth to keep me interested for a good while and is certainly a decent challenge to boot. Could it have been better? Absolutely. I really love the ant farm concept if not the actual execution.

People have griped about the interface, I don't know why. I find the interface intuitive but then I find Windows 8 intuitive where tons of people don't. I guess I'm just more flexible than others.

I will buy both games, I will love both games as if they're the last we'll see of the franchise for a good long while again.

[Gam]

IMO the only improvement they made over the original Xcom is the graphics and cinematics. Everything else is a step back. IMO.

Of course they perfectly reached their target; they did a great marketing campaign to capture the attention of the xcom enthusiasts + simplified the whole game so any baby with a console (and 2 thumbs) can play it. Loads of money for them.

But you all know that if the name of the game was different it would have had a freaction of the actual success. (btw can you rename Xenonaut to something more xcom like y-com, z-com, unknown enemy kickass...?)

I feel much more engaged with Xenonauts than with EU.

One day I would love to see Xenonauts with the graphic of Firaxis' Xcom. That would be awesome.

[Chris]

btw can you rename Xenonaut to something more xcom like... unknown enemy kickass...?

Hehe, I must say I'm tempted.

[Linque]

One thing that you didn't mention in your Less good things list (I didn't read replies) that bothered me A LOT, was that at higher difficulty levels the game is all about luck. The aliens get such big accuracy and damage boosts that if you aren't able to kill them before they get to open fire, you start losing soldiers immediately. At the same time, you get accuracy penalties (or the accuracy is so low to begin with; I didn't play on normal difficulty), that most of your shots are in the 25-75 range, causing a lot of misses and lucky hits.

To me it really didn't feel like I was playing good when I cleaned a supposedly difficult UFO; I felt lucky. Likewise, I didn't feel like I deserved to lose a few of my units in many occasions; I just unfairly missed too many shots in a row and the aliens proceeded to crit me.

It is partly related to what you said about not being able to flank due to fear of discovery. I want to be consistently rewarded from playing well. I don't want to have the difficulty level ramped up on me cause to increase the amount of chance.

They could've just added a lot of more hit points to all enemies, or increased the number of aliens in all encounters instead of messing with aim & damage.